I haven't paid any attention to the 5-leaflet rule for twenty years. It is OK (not necessarily optimal) if you have only hybrid tea roses, but harmful with some cluster-blooming roses, where it can lead you to discard half the plant unnecessarily. These are varieties that form large trusses and candelabra. Deadheading only helps the plant if that variety sets a lot of hips (fruit), and many varieties do not. Many roses do just fine without being deadheaded. If you want to fuss with your roses, just pop off the blooms as they fade. When the whole cluster is gone, you can either leave the branching stem tissue or cut it back some, but don't sacrifice a lot of cane unless the plant is getting too tall. The branching stem tissue is capable of producing shoots wherever there is any kind of leaf or leaflike bract. Once the rose produces new shoots, you can cut off the stem tissue above that if you want. The only rule I follow in deadheading is to remove the minimum stem tissue until the roses gets as big as I want it to be, and to take long stems if the rose is getting too tall or floppy.

Brake of the small sticks where the flowers was on top. And leaf the rest. It will take between a month or 2 for the plant to absorb all the nutrition in the long stick thing don't know what you call it in english. The long stick thing will turn a yellow colour and it will be easier to remove it then. I have seen over the years while growing thousands of clivias that if you pull the long stick thing out when it is still green that you get sometimes a small plant that starts to grow out from the spot where you pulled it out from. But when it turns yellow it does not happen. From flowering time and tile you can harvest the clivia seeds takes normally 8-12 months for the seeds to develop.When the seeds turns red, orange or yellow you can harvest it. And germinated it and grow your own clivias from it.

If it was me, and I do plan on doing this to another palm I have that has 3 plants, I would take the plant out of the pot and place it in a huge tub of water to remove the dirt and loosen the roots. The trick is to try not to break or damage the roots. I know some plants are more sensitive than others, but you might try to move the plants around teasing each one out from the other. It will be a slow process but I think it would work nicely reduce the damage that causes a lot of the problems. Many palms will grow new root systems before continuing to grow if the roots are damage. Be careful.

I love the depth of your comments on human nature, Odinthor - "an inability to demonstrate the fullness of their hearts" for the deeply devoted in many respects. We all get passionately committed to something and then find ourselves building an overwhelming sense of responsibility and an awareness of how limited we are. I seem to find there are two possible responses to that growing awareness of the impossible in our lives - either we get anxious and focused on controlling ourselves and our environment to achieve that impossible perfection (like Kim's friend) or we develop a sense of humility and gratitude for being at least a small part of something bigger than ourselves (like Campanula and the endless joy of joining in the shaping of her wilderness). The same pattern often applies to us in other aspects of our lives, not just gardens but faith, family, and friends too. I was reminded of how much the latter attitude is both a choice and a long-term growing process for all of us last night. My daughter was chafing at the waiting and watching for her brother's Tae Kwon Do tournament last night, and I was reminding her to be patient and find something to be interested about in the activities. She turned to me exasperated and said, "Yeah, but nothing ever bothers you!" Shocked the pants off me, let me tell you - you mean you don't remember all the times I snapped at you, for starters? Then I realized that she's only 12, and her life has been absolutely filled with dramatic changes so far all the time - physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually. She doesn't have the luxury of a perspective to look back at the tapestry of her life and see the big picture of how things work together and work out - her tapestry is tiny and rushed and pretty jumbled up from where she stands (all gangly 5' 9" of her already, at that). That insight gave me the chance to do my "mom thing" and remind her (and myself) that an attitude is a choice and something you have to practice to get good at. Patience isn't something we're born with, but something we deliberately cultivate by not backing away from challenges (even the impossible ones) and handling the frustrations in our lives with grace and humility. Building that patience in the garden and life is something that all of you help me with at GW, and I thank you for it! Cynthia